A New Player (Remastered)
by Tomthepower
Summary: This is a rewrite of my original story that I published a year ago. Aeden Marshal, one of the few SPARTAN III's to become an officer in the UNSC Navy, is thrown into the strange world of Remnant in the wake of the final battle of the Human-Covenant War. He will have to adapt to life in a world unlike any he has seen and deal with those who threaten his new home.
1. Trailer

I'm back. I know it's been a while but I'm back. Sorry but I decided to go with a rewrite because the original version was just trash and of course these things take a while. Overall the OC hasn't changed in many regards but the changes that are there are pretty significant. The first major thing you'll notice will probably be that I added in a sort of character trailer for him that takes place right before he heads to remnant. In the context of the halo universe it's the last level of halo 3 where they are trying to light the halo ring and eradicate the flood. This is supposed to be a prologue/character trailer for Aeden so it's a bit of an info dump. I want it to be much like the Original RWBY trailers (short, action pact, and reveals part of the character's background) and I also, for this section alone, wanted to emulate the less is more style of dialogue that marked the golden age of halo storytelling so I'm probably going to trim the fluff a bit excessively. Also I switched it to third person because I don't have the talent to pull off the previous style I was going for. If you liked the way it was done before then congratulates, you're an intellectual minority. And before I forget, I made it so that thoughts are in Italics so that it doesn't get confusing for you or annoying for me to write when the OC and his AI are having one of their mental conversations.

* * *

"If one forsakes principles for victory, one day they will be left with neither. If one concedes victory for the sake of principles, then evil will triumph and his principles are pointless. In my experience both choices spawn tragedy and I'm getting sick of it."

* * *

'Green' Trailer

"Halo. It's so new. So unfinished. I'm not sure what's going to happen when we fire it."

"We'll head for the the portal,"Chief responded as the Arbiter threw him an assault rifle. "And we'll all go home."

"He says after crashing our best ride out of here," Aeden mocked as he placed a magnum in his thigh Master Chief silently turned his head towards the young admiral. Despite the weight behind the faceless stare, the Admiral continued his gear up sequence unfeathered and picked up his ranged weapon of choice.

"Sergeant Johnson," The Hayabusa clad officer spoke over the radio while starting a munitions check on his DMR. "Our pelican's down. Grab two of my men and have them drive a separate warthog."

"Roger that. Will do sir."Johnson replied on an open channel.

" _You know the dawn has another pelican right?"_ His A.I companion, Juno, asked telepathically through his neural implant. His answer was a quick " _Yeah, too risky._ "

"Our ride out is arranged," Aeden announced as he started walking towards the cave entrance on the other side of the ridge they were on. "Let's move."

As they moved through the hole in the ice they came across a large drop. 15, maybe 20 meters down. Though lethal to the common soldier, this drop wasn't even a trifle to this group of warriors. When they hit the snow-cushioned ground, they barely even felt it.

When they looked up they saw Halo's control room. The structure was a highly defendable building with three levels that had to be traversed via a single walkway that would force attackers to fight their way around the entire length of the building on a single front. In the middle there was a single wall that provided cover to both sides. The approach had little cover other than a few odd structures no bigger than a warthog and some trenches in the snow. In terms of its layout at least, it was easily defendable. Yet Aeden noticed it had a distinct and ominous lack of defenders.

That was quick to change.

Almost as though it heard its call, a flood dispersal pod crashed to the ground about 10 meters from where they were standing. The grotesque creature that emerged didn't survive long enough to turn and face them before a carbine round was unloaded into the red 'antennae' that attached to where the head of the body used to be. The infected brute then fell over dead with a large empty crater where the face used to be. Before the corpse hit the ground however, several more of the pods had already been scattered along the snow covered surface.

"You can still get headshots. Good to know," the Admiral said somewhat coyly while the three of them moved to cover and returned fire."Got a plan?"

"Think I'll shoot my way to the top," The chief explained as a humorous oversimplification.

"Sounds good to me," Aeden said before sprinting to the trio's right flank. Normally he would've rolled his eyes at the recklessness of the legendary soldier. But after years of being side lined for most ground operations, running an enemy position sounded like a fun change of pace."On your mark Chief."

The Master Chief took a position between Aeden and the Arbiter before he gave the order. "Let's go."

The others did as ordered. They bolted across the snow towards the ramp on the opposite end of the field. Leaving behind a trail of infected corpses of all races. They were halfway across the plain when the wall that divided the structure came to a hole that split the path in two. The right went up to a narrow elevated position along the cliffside while the left continued to hug the control building. Without words ever being spoken, the group new to split. Arbiter and Chief continued the charge on the larger cluster to the left while Aeden ran to towards the cliff to the right. He left a trail of corpses behind him as he avoided the hail of plasma he was greeted with. As he rounded the corner, Aeden saw the two legends plow through a cluster of six without so much as a misplaced shot or a break their stride. As he rejoined his companions, Aeden saw a group of thirteen combat forms jump down from the upper levels in front of the the charging soldiers. Aeden, not wanting to be slowed down, pulled out a frag grenade. The well placed explosive reduced all but four of them to a pile shredded flesh and green goo. The army of three then finished them off with a barrage of bullets. They pressed forward towards the top of the ramp to the first level of the control room itself.

" _Above us_ ," Juno warned her host. Sure enough, the hostiles were jumping down from the upper levels after the team was about halfway across the shaded side of the lower level. The ambushers surrounded them. The Admiral discarded his nearly empty rifle and drew his sword from his side. The Arbiter and Chief took to killing those that were flanking them while Aeden simply charged those that blocked their advance, leaving behind him a trail of severed limbs and bisected torsos. His kriegsmesser; a large, slightly top-heavy, single-edged blade, had enough cutting power to slice through the thick flesh with ease.

"Still got it," He said to himself quietly.

" _I don't know about that,"_ Juno argued. " _Your edge alignment was off by an average of 5.5 degrees."_

" _Don't ruin it for me, It's my first time back in the field in 5 years."_

By the time the other two caught up with him, Aeden was yanking the blade out of a tank form's mouth. They watched as its lifeless body fell to the ground. A ground that was as littered with so much mutated gore that they couldn't begin to guess how many he killed.

"You've been busy," The older SPARTAN said to the blood covered swordsman.

"Yeah it's been a while," the younger calmly replied. "Got to say, it's good to be back in the field. It's a great stress relief when you don't have to babysit half a squad." He looked over and saw an unsettling look on the Arbiter's face. Though its meaning was lost to those present. This lead Aeden to ask "What are you looking at?"

"A SPARTAN wielding a silver blade and white mask over the front of his helmet," He responded while maintaining a level tone. "Years ago, a team of SPARTANs began targeting the our officers, our heroes, and its elite. All reports described their leader as a white faced SPARTAN with a silver blade."

"Oh, just now putting that together are you?" Aeden mocked. "And, Silver? I know you guys like your purples and blues. But come on, you must have seen uncolored steel or titanium at some point. It looks nothing like silver."

"So you admit to being the one we called harbinger."

"That and a couple of other cliche nicknames," he answered indifferently. "Is that going to be a problem?"

There was a moment of tense silence. The Arbiter began walking towards the SPARTAN III with both plasma rifles held at his side.

"I've far greater enemies to worry about than you,"he said sternly as he passed the Admiral.

" _Great idea,"_ Juno telepathically mocked. " _Feel like picking any more fights while you're at it?_ "

" _As a matter of fact,_ "he mentally responded to his companion.

"Glad that's been sorted out," Aeden replied out loud, maintaining his level unthreatened tone as he turned to follow his ally forward. "Do me a favor when we get back and stop using the over used religious aliases for me. I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of being called stupid crap like the 'demon of chorus'"

"As you wish." he spoke. "Come SPARTANs, the parasite gathers while we delay."

"I doubt it," Aeden argued. He followed the alien through the hallway leading to the other side of the structure's exterior and continued speaking. "It's been almost 15 minutes since I told Garrus to take the warthogs which means he's been doing his work for about," he paused for a second when the exited the hole in the wall that lead to the control room starboard walkway. The entirety of which was covered with enough green blood and busted up body parts for perhaps two full platoons of infected corpses. "I'd say five, maybe six minutes."

"60 cal?" Chief looked at one of the ooze covered holes in the wall.

"Heavily modded 60 cal," Aeden corrected as he steeped in some of the green ooze and bits of flesh that was splattered absolutely everywhere. "With fragmenting rounds judging from the mess." He switched to his radio to contact his subordinate. "What's your status sergeant?"

"I'm perched up on the cliff side with my trusty semi-automatic sniper with anti-personnel rounds and Jenkins here to watch my back," the First Sergeant spoke in the plain informative manner that the Admiral alway appreciated.

"In other words," Jenkins interjected with the far more cocky tone that was much less appreciated. "You guys are basically untouchable."

" _I ask him to bring 2 guys and he just has to choose him._ " He thought to himself before pulling up his radio. "Where's Sergeant Johnson?"

"He's up top waiting for you guys."

"Good work sergeant keep me posted if anything changes." Aeden responded.

"I see the Raven's reputation was accurate one," The Arbiter interjected.

"Did you already forget that conversation we had about the nicknames?"Aeden retorted, hardly hiding the agitation in is voice.

"That was title was yours, but your brothers."

"Great, that's just what they needed. Something else to stroke their egos with."

"Am I the only one who's more curious as to how the fuck the Covenant know what a raven is?" Jenkins joined in with what in the Aeden's mind was actually a decent point that would dutifully be ignored by everyone because he ended the radio transmission. The trio on the ground began their trek up the control room. Every other step landed in mutated tissue and watched through his scope as they reached the top where they found Sergeant Major Johnson.

"You'll have to forgive me if I pass on the salute," Johnson shrugged his right shoulder to indicate the ordinance often referred to as the SPARTAN laser weighing heavily on him. The choice seemed odd to Aeden. A rocket launcher would've been easier for him to carry, and made more sense as well seeing as how the laser was by no means a good pick for hoards of unarmored infantry, a.k.a. the Flood. The hulking piece of artillery was famous for being able to burn a hole through multiple wraiths, but it only holds 5 shots which generally means it's used as an anti-armor solution.

"Nothing I'm not used to," Aeden responded. "At least you're reasoning doesn't a variation middle finger."

"You really need to reign your boy in," Johnson replied.

"We have an agreement," Aeden explained. "They get a pass until they fuck up a mission."

"Mmmhm, and hows that worked out for ya?"

"Four failed missions and one casualty in 8 years. The most recent of which was two years ago."

"Damn," The Sergeant Major said before he turned to the door. "SPARK! YOU IN THERE? OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!"

The control room outer door opened. The group made their way to the door at the end of the hallway. Aeden and the Master Chief took point when they entered the control room, followed closely by Sgt. Maj. Johnson while the Arbiter guarded there rear outside the door. The room was a large open chamber with a holographic representation of the ring as the centerpiece. A wide glass plain stretched forward towards a control panel and encircled the image of the ring. On either side of the path was what Aeden figured was at least a ten story drop to the floor. The SPARTAN II yanked the chip out of the back of his head that contained his A.I. Cortana, and looked down on it as he held it in his hand.

"I'm not going to lose her too," Johnson said, holding out his open hand. Chief tossed him the chip containing his companion. Johnson began making his way over to the console. On his way over, a small floating orb came to his side began speaking to him.

"Chief," the SPARTAN III began. "What the heck am I looking at?"

"That's Spark," John answered. "He's the monitor of the ring."

" _Before you ask"_ Juno interjected." _That means he protects the ring and makes sure it is remains in working order."_

"I'm surprised he okayed the plan." Aeden spoke to both of them. "Didn't Cortana say…"

"AHHHHH," Johnson screamed in pain. When they looked over, they saw his steaming body collapse to the floor.

" _Yeah about that"_ Juno light-heartedly commented.

"UNACCEPTABLE! UNACCEPTABLE! ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE!" the orb shouted as it turned to blast the SPARTAN II that was running to aid his ally. The Arbiter raised his carbine to his shoulder only to be met with the same red beam that had just knocked Chief off his feet. The Elite was promptly launched behind the door's threshold and locked out of the control room. Aeden pulled out his pistol and emptied the entire round magazine into the bullseye in the center of the monster's face. As would be expected, he was blasted out of the fight just as easily as the Arbiter, except while the Arbiter was safe outside, the SPARTAN officer was thrown off the edge of the walkway. His back hit the ground slanted floor with his arms stiffly locked in front of him. He heard the sound of metal grinding on metal and realized that he was sliding towards the hole in the center of the room at a near running speed.

" _Mags,"_ Aeden thought to his partner who promptly disengaged armor lock mode and activated his suits magnetic boots. The SPARTAN III began to decelerate as he forced his feet onto the magnetized surface. He only stopped when he jammed one of his spare knives into the light socket on the floor that illuminated the walls. He was forced to release the blade when the electric shock nearly took out his shield. But without any more forward momentum, the slope was forgiving enough for him to stand on with or without the Hayabusa's magnetic boots.

" _That went well,"_ Juno sneered.

" _Get Garrus on the line,"_ He thought back to his partner. " _Or the Arbiter. I don't care which. I'll work on finding a way back up."_

" _On it. Aaaaand done."_

"Captain!"He exclaimed. "What's going on in there?! Everyone's gone dark."

"Captain?" The Admiral questioned.

"Forcive habit," The First Sergeant replied.

"Forcive hab. IT'S BEEN THREE YEARS. WHY IS THAT STILL A?"He stopped himself both verbally and physically when he found a section of the wall he could scale."Questions for later. For now, just please tell me you brought armor piercing rounds."

"Of course I did. Those are a staple. Now will you please just tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Johnson pissed of the AI that runs halo which apparently has laser eyes."the officer said as he began the slow process of climbing the wall.

"Are you serious?"

"Do I sound like I'm kidding?"

"It's hard to tell with you sometimes."

"Whatever. Just listen. It didn't really have a reaction to my pistol but I really doubt it can take an anti-tank round to the face. How long do you think it'll take you to get here?"

"Yeah…let me get back to you on that," The ODST's radio then went silent.

" _Did he just hang up on you?"_ Juno asked.

" _Well that's just great,"_ Aeden thought to himself. Looking up at the battle where Master Chief was backed up against the wall. " _Now what are we supposed to kill that thing with?"_

As he finished his thought he saw the unmistakable red beam of a SPARTAN laser blast the Monitor off the walkway.

" _That's one way of going about it."Juno answered._

" _Once again, Chief is the luckiest bastard I've ever met,"_ Aeden resumed his efforts scaling the wall. His progress was relatively quick, but his goal was far and up a smooth vertical wall with little to hold on to.

He was nearly at the top when a blue light illuminated the surface of the wall. He turned his head and saw that a giant blue beam erupted from the hole in center of the ground floor. The whole room shook. When he saw debris falling off the ceiling and walls, he nearly doubled his speed. He was maybe twice his body length away from the walkway when the piece of the wall he was holding on to started to peel off from the frame. He reached for anything that he could get a hold of to prevent his fall to no avail. The surrounding area was completely smooth. The SPARTAN turned his head to the ceiling.

" _No way! I know what you're thinking and OH JEEZ!"_ His A.I. was interrupted by her host leaping off the dangling sheet of metal onto another raptor in freefall and began running up the slightly slanted support until he reached the end of it. His partner's timing when she disengaged the magnetic boots was perfectly in sync with his final stride. He leapt off the end of the raptor and nearly dislocated his shoulder when he caught the ledge of the main walkway with his left hand.

" _I can't believe you just got away with that. Way to go Naruto."_ Right as she finished her sentence,the entire walkway began to shift downwards.

" _Are you fucking kidding me?"_ He thought to himself as he struggled to hold on to the rapidly shifting plain. When it stopped he saw the walkway had been bent by a large piece of debris. The flat plain was now a near vertical incline fulcrum of the bend it to a at the doorway they originally came in at. Aeden used the edge of the walkway climb towards the door at remarkable pace. Closing the distance in a little over a minute

"Couldn't have just waited another thirty damn seconds could you Chief?" He said to himself after regaining his footing, not showing the slightest sign of fatigue. "How long has it been?"

" _Halo began firing 4 and a half minutes ago"_ Juno answered

" _So they're halfway to the Dawn by now."_ He thought back to her as he began walking out towards the exit.

" _Not necessarily, "_ she replied optimistically. " _If they made their way to the warthog at the same rate it took you to scale the tower they might only be…"_

" _They aren't going to come back,"_ Aeden interrupted his partner. " _They know better. Even at the war's end my first order still stands. Besides,we'd all get caught in the blast if they turned around now so it would be pointless for me to try."_

" _So you're just going to give up?"_

"Of course not!" He retorted as he passed the threshold of the outer door to the control room. "I just need a minute to think. What kind of a time frame am I looking at?"

" _Well,"_ She took a literal second to run the numbers while her partner started pacing anxiously. " _The firing sequence started three minutes ago and a complete ring can fire within ten minutes. But this ring is incomplete and if we're lucky..."_

"Not sure. Got it. Follow up question how long would it take for a pelican to make it from here to the frigate?"

" _A round trip would take about four and a half minutes given optimal parameters, sadly I don't think a ring blowing itself to pieces qualifies._ "

" _Either way that only leaves the frigate two and a half to make it to the portal best case scenario._ "A crushing realization hit next words were spoken out loud as he sat down at the edge of the platform with his feet hanging over the edge. "No matter how you look at it, if they sent evac my way now everyone would die."

" _You don't know that."_

"I don't have to, I know it's the most likely outcome and so do they. Chief probably could've waited a few minutes to fire the ring. But they made the right choice leaving me once the process started." After those words, there was only silence as they looked upon the snow covered canyon. A beautiful sight to be sure, or at least it would've been if it weren't covered in flood goo. His rest lasted all of about thirty seconds. After which it was interrupted by the all too familiar sound of a pelican coming over the horizon at full throttle.

" _Or maybe not,"_ Juno finally replied to his last statement.

" _If by some miracle I survive this, someone's getting their ass kicked."_


	2. Chapter 1: Why are We Here?

Okay so here's the first official chapter and also the first major change in the plot I originally planned. I'm going to say this upfront because credit where credit was due and all that, I was originally really opposed to a couple of the suggested changes but then one thing in particular came up that just had too much plot utility to pass up and for t to work other things had to change so thanks to my beta reader/ co author for that. We've been out of touch for a while but still thanks for the help. No I'm not going to use the screen name because I lack his express permission and like I said, we're out of touch at the moment. I'm not going to say specifically what the suggested change that fixed a lot of old issue was because you're gonna figure it out real quick if you read the original. And if you haven't, don't, I'm warning you now the original was poorly executed trash. So without further adieu, let's get back to Aeden's first day on Remnant. Oh and one more thing, there is one section I let my co-author edit with no restrictions or correcting from me (for the most part) and I'm curious to see if any of you can determine which section that is. If you think you know, call it out in a review.

* * *

Chapter 1

Why are We Here?

" _Hey, Aeden, Wake up."_ the voice of Aeden's AI, Juno, echoed in his mind. " _Come on Scarface."_

" _Two-Face."_ Aeden mentally corrected her, sitting up and blinking intensely to adjust to the sunlight.

" _What?"_ She asked.

" _Scarface was a possessed puppet who controlled the mind of the Ventriloquist. It was Two-Face that had half his face burned away."_

" _I'm not even going to question how you of all people know that,"_ She said as Aeden rose to his feet.

" _Where are we?"_ He said, taking notice of the change in scenery. Not five minutes ago, he was in the Forward Unto Dawn headed back to Earth. Now he was in what looked like a fairly dense temperate forest in the middle of nowhere. All he saw as he looked around was darkly colored trees casting a shadow over the leaf covered ground. As cliché as it sounds, the distinct lack of noise from wildlife was somewhat unsettling. And far more unsettling than that was the dark shadow that was cast over the forest. He couldn't make many other noteworthy observations about the forest. The lack of information on where he was and how he got there was not something he appreciated.

" _Well we were heading for the portal and given that we don't know anything about forerunner tech, I have no way of knowing for sure. The foliage is temperate from the looks of it so that could be what like North America, Europe, Australia, parts of Asia…"_

" _Yeah that's real helpful,"_ Aeden cut her off with unamused sarcasm in his voice. " _Just keep naming continents. I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually. Let's try this. Do you have any idea why we're here and not back at New Mombasa where the portal was on Earth?"_

" _Couple of theories. Most of them involve the connection between the two ends of the portal being disrupted by the destruction of the Ark."_

" _I'm pretty sure that's not how it works,"_

" _Oh really. Why don't you educate me with your vast understanding of Forerunner tech?"_

" _We were in a frigate, I would think that part of the ship would've ended up here with us if your theory was true."_

" _Maybe it is. We haven't exactly looked for anything yet."_

" _Forget it. I'd rather try and find a way back to the fleet than go out of my way to search for wreckage in an attempt to prove you wrong. I'm assuming you've tried hailing them right."_

" _Of course I did. Who do you think I am? Siri?_ " Juno replied making one of her famous 200-year-old references that almost literally no one in the modern age had a chance in hell of understanding.

" _Not worth the argument. What do you think the odds are the Dawn has anything worth scavenging for? And what about the team? Find anything on them?"_

" _Oh yeah let me get right on that with all the explorative capabilities I have."_

" _Nevermind then. Point taken,"_ he said suppressing the growing irritation. He checked the readout on his visor. One flashbang, two frags, one partially used clip for a battle rifle without its matching firearm, three of his five throwing knives, his fully loaded magnum along with one half empty spare clip, his ever-faithful kriegsmesser and all his other miscellaneous equipment clung to his armor in their respective places.

" _You don't seem too worried about the others,"_ Juno commented on his utter lack of a sense of urgency.

" _Should I be?"_ He responded coldly. " _Either they're home, drifting in space, or in the same situation I'm in. In all of the above they either don't need my help or there's not a lot I can do. And you already said you've tried contacting them without any luck. The way I see it I've got no reason to worry because either the idiots are either fine on their own or they aren't and there's nothing I can do about it."_

" _You know you could stand to be a little nicer to them. They did just save your life."_

" _Yeah and as a result of wasting time on me, as many as three bodies might be drifting in space for no reason other than to assuage their consciences."_ He pulled the hammer back on his magnum and placed the reloaded sidearm back into its holster _. "I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't call that idiotic. I'm not arguing with you. Can you tell where we came from? Any direction seem marginally more promising?"_

" _Nothing of note."_ She answered.

" _Great guess that means I'm doing this blind,"_ Aeden responded finally noticing his blurry vision. " _Hang on a second. My contacts fell out inside my helmet."_

He removed his helmet and saw the two lenses resting on the inside of his visor. When he went to grab them, one dropped into the mud he was standing in.

" _Of fucking course,"_ He bent over to search for it growing somewhat agitated.

" _You might want to consider leaving it. It's expired anyway and it's not like you can clean it."_

" _Good point. It's nothing I can't deal with for a few… I got movement on the tracker. Five o'clock. No friend or foe tag,"_ He turned to face the incoming threat, blade in hand.

" _I see it. There's a second closing in from the same direction."_

Aeden couldn't see anything other than the dots on his motion tracker yet. Even the trees that were mere feet away from him were not clear enough for him to make out the finer details of the bark pattern. But his hearing was sharp as ever. And what he heard was a heavy, low, predatory growl that was almost characteristic of brutes. He positioned himself so that a wide tree was between him and the approaching danger. He calmed himself and focused his senses. He heard the creature's approach. After a few seconds of this, a creature that looked like a giant, demonic, red-eyed bear with fur darker than the blackest void reared its head around the tree only to have it lopped off by a blade moving with the downward force of a guillotine. The body hadn't even hit the floor when the beast partner charged around the other side of the tree. Aeden merely stepped to the side and in one swift motion sliced the beast in half. Shortly after, the victors watched the remains began to dissipate.

" _That's… new,"_ Juno broke the silence.

" _I'm guessing that means it doesn't help you figure out where we are."_

" _You'd be correct. Except I'm fairly sure we aren't anywhere on Earth. As far as I know, nothing evaporates after death like."_

Aeden thought for a moment." _Did you happen to catch what direction they were headed before we caught their attention?"_

" _No_ , _they were coming straight for us from the moment they were within range of the motion tracker. Why?"_

" _What do you think the odds are they were heading to something we could use; like a river or a road or some other recognizable landmark."_

" _Okay I see what you're going for."_ She responded before taking a moment to analyze the situation. " _It looks like it's a little past noon. By this time most non-nocturnal predatory creatures head towards a food source. Might hit a stream, but the road idea seems unlikely. Most animals, especially predators, tend to avoid human society."_

" _Unless they're man-eaters. Which given their aggression wouldn't surprise me."_

" _General trends, which is basically all we have at this point, don't favor that."_

" _Well we also have the behaviors we've observed like say aggression towards humanoids."_

" _Which could be explained by territorialism, famine, proximity to offspring, the fact that you were alone and isolated may have emboldened them,"_

" _Just shut the fuck up and help me look for some tracks."_ He spat at her while he began to move in the direction the beast came from. Carefully looking for tracks to follow.

" _Well then, a little testy today are we?"_ Juno teased.

" _And you think saying that out loud was a good idea because?"_

" _Because what are you going to do to me, I'm basically the closest thing you have to a guide."_

" _Yeah, to bad like I was never thrown into the woods and told to hike up to an LZ controlled by hostiles when I was 12 or anything like that."_

" _You also weren't half blind back then. But what do I know, I'm sure you won't have any problems finding_ —"

" _Found 'em. Oh, I'm sorry what were you saying?"_

" _Damnit! How! How did you even? Whatever. Let me see them,"_ she said. He kneeled down so the helmet cam was within two feet of the mud puddle containing the tracks. " _So that's how. You lucked out and found them on a rainy day or the day after."_

" _Can you use the tracks to plot the route they were originally taking."_

" _Sure,"_ She paused while she calculated the course. " _Line of best fit issss. Okay from your perspective walk in the 3:47.3 0'clock direction and you'll be running parallel to the approximate route of the creatures."_

" _Thanks. Can you highlight the path on my HUD for me since I'm not a robot and that description isn't as helpful as you'd think,"_ He requested. Juno did as he asked and drew a red line on his heads-up display in the assumed direction the monsters were headed. Aeden began to follow it while in his overactive mind thinking of every scenario that could explain what happened, where we are, what Admiral Hood's assumptions will be, what the hell those creatures were. After an hour or so his explanation that was, in Juno's mind, the most sound was that they went through the portal as the Ark was being destroyed and the portal then malfunctioned and sent them to one of the shield installations Spark mentioned at the cartographer. Assuming this theory was true, he speculated that the freaks of nature they already fought were likely an artificial species the forerunners made to fight the flood that decayed too fast to be infected. After traveling about a mile they found a clearing. One which contained enough to disprove one of both their theories.

" _What was that about predators staying away from man-made roads and structures?"_ Aeden thought smugly.

" _Don't be a smart ass,"_ she replied. " _I was going to be nice, but if we're keeping score then I think the dirt road rules out the Forerunner's in you're 'where are we' theories."_

" _Have you read the reports of Alpha Halo? They found dirt roads minutes after landing_."

 _She took a second to respond"Damn it."_

" _Really? THAT'S your retort? You really need to start bringing your A-game to these arguments. Or, you know, at least your 'Shakespearean wit'."_

" _Shut up and pick a direction before I give you a migraine."_

" _You wouldn't dare,"_ He moved his hand to the back of his helmet to 'yank' her.

" _Fine, I'll shut it, just move. By the way_ —"

" _Yeah, motion tracker, I see it."_ He turned to face the oncoming stranger. Through his blurred vision, the only features he could identify were she was female, riding a white horse, had her face partially shrouded by her hood, and wore what to him seemed an impractical set of golden high-heeled boots that went past her knees. " _What'd you figure the odds are that she speaks English?"_

" _Judging from the horse, slim to none."_

The SPARTAN III just sighed at the bluntness of Juno's comment. It still puzzled him on how they managed to work together all these years. Pushing his thoughts aside, he looked up at the mysterious woman as she drew closer.

"Hi there. You doing alright?" they heard a female voice said in a polite head tilted slightly to her left, no doubt puzzled about the armor.

" _And apparently slim's enough. Today's just one lucky thing after another for you, isn't it? You'd make a killer living at a casino."_ Juno said.

" _Are you kidding me? If I was lucky, I'd be getting a medal right now and not hiking around the middle of nowhere playing 20 questions with myself. And you should know by now, I only gamble when I know I'm going to win."_ He thought while simultaneously answering the girl out loud. "Ahhh little lost actually. Think you could point me to the nearest town?"

"That would be Patch. It's about three hours from here if you're walking," she replied. "Great. So… think you could give me some directions?"

The woman put her hand under her chin before releasing a sigh. "The paths out here are a bit hard to explain." She then looked up and added "I'm headed in that direction myself. If you want, I could just take you there."

"Ehhh, I don't want to impose," Aeden replied, waving his hands as if to deflect the offer.

"It's not imposing if someone offers." replied the mysterious woman in a somewhat condescending tone.

"Fair enough. You sure it won't be any trouble?"

"Why would it be If we're going to the same place?" She then moved her hand slowly to something on her back. "though it depends on your intentions here."

"I don't know, just felt like I should ask. And lady, whatever you're reaching for, you might want to leave where it is. I think it's pretty apparent I'm packing more firepower," Aeden said, clearly not even remotely concerned about diffusing the situation.

" _I seriously doubt is,"_ she thought to herself.

"And while we're on the topic, if I was going to do something to you, what in hell do you think my plan was? Walk out here with unconcealed weapons in a full suite of armor and try to get you to drop your guard? If I was going to rob you, I'd ambush you, stab you, take your stuff, and be done with it. And if you're thinking there might be more than just me getting in position, then might I suggest at least giving a cursory glance in the forest rather than just staring at the guy asking for directions."

"Are you kidding? Highwaymen use fear to extort people out of money all the time." the stranger spoke defensively after retracting her hand from her weapon.

"Oh yeah, And how many lead with politely asking for directions?"He mocked. His tone quickly changed when he realized he probably shouldn't piss off his only potential guide. "You know what? It's not worth it so let's just drop it. Sorry, it actually was a justifiable concern. Are you sure it's not a problem for me to travel with you?"

"Don't worry about it. I'm actually hoping some conversation will make the trip a little less dull." She said as she began to relax again.

" _Well she's going to be disappointed. Your conversations are roughly on par with Sheldon Cooper's,"_ Juno interjected knowing he likely wouldn't retort.

"In that case, thanks." Aeden replied to the stranger while simultaneously saying ' _Fuck off Juno'_ in his head

" _And you're being polite to her. Man, you're trying all sorts of new things today, aren't you?"_ Juno continued. Aeden moved his hand to the back of his helmet. " _Oh don't you dare you damn bru—"_ she started before he yanked her storage chip out of his helmet.

"What's that?"

"Classified, so let's just call it a headache and leave it at that." He answered. "So can we get moving now?"

"Suuure."She said while mounting the horse. He saw her hand reach out to him."By the way, I'm Amber."

"Aeden," he politely shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"You want the horse for the trip?" she asked as the two started moving. "It's a bit of a hike."

"This suit weighs roughly six hundred pounds. I don't think your horse would appreciate its spine being broken."

"Wait! Six hundred?! Isn't that a bit much? I mean, how the hell are you walking so normally?"

"Most of it is classified, but it's essentially an exoskeleton that moves on its own," replied the officer. "Most of the other models actually weigh about a time and a half of what I'm wearing if you can believe it."

"Sounds handy. And a little made up." the woman teased.

"That's probably because my explanation wasn't great. But hey, what you choose to believe is on you. Either way, I'm walking."

"Suit yourself."She replied. The hooded woman then turned to him and asked, "So what are you doing out here?"

"I honestly have no idea how I wound up here. I somehow got separated from my unit and woke up in the woods," Aeden replied.

"Oh so you're in the military then?"

"Yes actually. What gave it away?"

"The words classified and unit."

"Figures. I hate to tell you this now but you're going to hear that word a lot if you keep asking questions."

"Well that's no fun."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"Then what can I ask about?"

"That list alone will probably take longer than the remainder of our trip. Literally, 90% of my career and background are classified. I'm not even supposed to tell you my age technically."

"You can't be serious."

"I am, unfortunately."

"Why? That's so — Why?"

"Because ONI is just about the shadiest government organization in existence. And no I can't go into who, what, or why."

"Okay then, let's think about this" Amber thought for a minute. "What's your rank?"

"Rear Admiral."

"Oh really? I didn't realize officers were on the front lines, ever."

"I'm usually not. I used to be a petty officer, then special circumstances got me promoted to an officer. I just finished my first ground operation in years. At this point the sword is mostly for show."

"Let me guess, the special circumstances are classified?"

"Yeah," he hesitated. "Buuut, I can probably get away with saying that part of it was the screw-up of my team prematurely setting of explosives during a demolition job and nearly blinding me."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. It's not your fault and they've been slowly healing since the injury. I've always hated people feeling sorry for me so just forget about it."

"Well that's good to hear… I think. How fast are they healing?"

"When I first got injured I couldn't properly judge the alignment on my rifle sights and six years later I can now consistently hit targets up to fifteen yards away with small arms and throwing knives. Your face is still pretty blurry though"

"Was it entirely his fault. I mean is there any way you made a rookie mistake or something like that is there?"

"I was a petty officer at the time. I don't think that anyone can classify that as rookie. And trust me it was his fault, literally anyone there will testify to that." Aeden responded while discreetly putting Juno's chip back into the neural interface and getting an immediate ' _Fuck you for that'_ as a result.

"Oh yeah, and how long did that take you to get there?"

"Eight years."

"Okay, so not a rookie. Wow, you're older than I would've thought."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, 8 years as a soldier and 6 years as an officer means you've been in the military for 14 years plus. probably 2 years of training at least" Amber said while counting with her fingers. "Yeah there's no way you're not a relic."

"For your information, I'm only twe—" He stopped himself and thought for a second."I can't believe I almost fell for that."

"Almost? Come on now, might as well tell me the whole number now. What is it? Twenty-six, twenty-seven?"

"Twenty-eight. Actually." He went ahead and grumbled an answer to her, thankful that he had a helmet to hide the embarrassment on his face. "Well played."

"You sure you're an admiral? Because you just fell for one of the most obvious setups ever used."

"Give me a break, I've been awake for three days straight." He answered.

"Oh yeah? doing what?" Amber responded with a grin on her face that even Aeden could see.

"Oh no. After that performance I think I'll be asking questions for a little while," he replied.

"Fair enough, ask away," she responded still stifling a bit of laughter.

"You are way too pleased with yourself right now."

"I'm well aware."

Aeden just sighed and they continued both their journey and their conversation. This went on for a few hours. Aeden was being cautious with his words for the bulk of it. Now that he had been tricked once, he was constantly making sure neither one of them steered the conversation away from him or his past. As the time passed, he realized he didn't need to. Over the course of the journey, their talk became more light-hearted than inquisitive. He pondered whether or not that was out of respect or lack of interest, eventually deciding it was probably a combination of both since showed no sign of either. No matter what her reasons were, he appreciated her giving him a chance to relax. Now that he was thinking about it, the last time he had just stopped and talked with someone — just casually talk with no worries and just relax — felt like a distant memory. And hell, three days without sleep is enough to fry even a SPARTAN's brain despite their augmentations. Though there were still loose ends to tie up — like a missing ship, crew, and being MIA — none of it weighed on his mind and it was a welcome change of pace… at least while it lasted.

The tree line opened up and they came to a large open field split down the middle by the road. On either side of there was nothing but a sheet of what appeared to be cut grass. Not far from the mouth of the woods from sat a small crying child.

"What's that up ahead?" questioned Amber.

"Unless I'm mistaken I believe it's a small child crying in the middle of the road."

"Thank you captain, I mean admiral obvious."Amber jested.

"What do you want from me. I'm a recovering blind man."

"Hence the joke," She replied, dismounting her horse. She reached into a bag on the side of her saddle and pulled out an apple."She's probably just lost or hungry."

"Or bait if those bandits you were worried about earlier are in the area," he replied nothing in his mind the fact the situation looked like a classic sharpshooter trap which involves luring people out in the open using either a wounded ally or civilians to draw targets out of cover. In this case, it doesn't even need to be a sniper. There is no cover so anyone with a gun could surround them and they'd be screwed. He knew it was unlikely but the situation was unsettling him all the same.

"Paranoid much."

"Yeah I know, it's —"he was interrupted by a poorly suppressed yawn. "—Iiiiit's a real problem for me. Think maybe it has something to do with nearly 14 years of service? I don't know. Maybe I should stay here and work on that."

"Alright fine then, stay here while I go and help her out like a decent human being." She said, clearly put off by the indifference he was showing.

"You do that. Meanwhile, I'll just be hanging out over here staying alive like a smart human being."

"Not that smart apparently," She said as she walked further out into the clearing.

" _Well, that was harsh."_ Juno chimed in.

" _Not undeserved though. I mean all she's seen me do is get conned."_

" _Well that and the whole 'decent human being' thing."_

" _Yeah, that cut surprisingly deep too."_

" _Oh and by the way you were also right. It is, in fact, a trap."_

" _What are you talking about?The radar's clear."_

" _Yes, but according to the helmet camera I use to see things, there is a green-haired adolescent girl standing right behind what I'm assuming is the kid you're seeing. "_

" _What?"_

" _Oh, would you look at that? Now she's drawing knives."_

" _You're sure?"_

" _I'm staring right at her."_

" _Highlight her position on my HUD."_ he drew a combat knife from his bicep while Juno outlined a rudimentary image of a person poised to attack. " _I swear if this is a prank I will leave you yanked for a week."_

" _Duly noted."_

His blade flew from his hand with the speed of a SPKR rocket launcher. The blade bounced off to the side and image of the child instantly faded and the illusionist appeared an arms length away from his guide.

"What?"Amber panicked as she leapt back, casting off her hood as she did so. A small pole appeared in her hand and extended into a quarterstaff with large red and white crystals on either end of it.

"You know how to fight?" he asked, too tired to sound —or be— worried.

"Surprised?"

"Relieved. I always hated babysitting." He said as he noticed the second dot on his motion tracker. "Another one coming up on the right unarmed. You good if I deal with him?"

At that moment, the girl's 'knives' opened up into dual pistols and began to fire ant amber. To Aeden's surprise, the bullets disappeared once the struck an invisible barrier a hand's width away from her.

"I think I'll manage," she said confidently as she started moving towards the green haired assailant with no haste in her stride whatsoever. Aeden, meanwhile took a defensive stance with a high guard, ready to break the grey boy's charge.

"Great, I'm going to have to save her cocky ass aren't I? What the hell did I land in the middle of."

Just before the boy reached him, he leaped up into the air to perform a dropkick. An attack which is almost as easily read as it is punished. When the boy's airborne body reached its destination, it's target was gone. Aeden had at the last possible moment stepped to his attacker's side. While his feet were off the ground, there wasn't much he could do to avoid his punishment as the blur of the Admiral's sword struck his neck and followed through with enough force to slam him to the ground. The depth of the impression he made on the road was comparable to that of a snow angel.

Ordinarily, Aeden would have some kind of clever disrespectful retort, but he was too busy trying to wrap his head around the fact his sword didn't travel cut through its target like a jellyfish. The boy quickly rose to his feet without so much as a bruise. Before he could recover Aeden rushed him with a flurry. Each strike following the last in hard, quick succession while leaving no openings for his opponent to exploit. The blade whistled through the air with inhuman speed unfamiliar even to the SPARTAN: striking at his forearm, thigh, torso, and face with pinpoint accuracy. All while thinking to himself" _How the fuck is this basic punk still alive."_

" _Your guess is as good as mine,"_ Juno responded.

Aeden felt bullets impact his personal shield and backed off his assault to face the new incoming attack. The green haired girl had broken off from her fight with Amber, who was now locked in combat with a third attacker and headed straight for him.

" _Juno!"_

" _On it,"_ she replied as she began to highlight the predicted bullet paths on his HUD.

Aeden positioned himself so that the attacker he was beating was now between him and the shooter. The boy then tried to get in a few kicks but to Aeden, his fighting style was predictable, off-balanced, and impractical. All of which were things he knew how to punish. Whenever he blocked one attack, the leg based fighting style had an inherent delay to any follow-up attacks which meant he was open to a counter attack every time his attacks were blocked. The only slight difficulty was that being peppered by the newcomer limited his footwork options. That is until he reflexively blocked a trio of bullets with his sword, something considered completely inconceivable with anything but a spiker or needler to him until three seconds ago.

" _HOLY SHIT!"_ He screamed at himself in disbelief. " _Juno. You can start bowing now because apparently I am a fucking god."_

As the boy's ally drew near, he attempted another roundhouse kick. Aeden's response was to catch the leg, throw it up, step forward and slam the boy's face into the dirt again.

When the green haired girl arrived, her weapons were a type of chain scythe. Something that Aeden could honestly say he had never thought he would have to go up against because they were among the most useless melee weapons he'd ever heard of. But then again, the boy had guns strapped to his feet somehow and seemed to be fighting as tough his hands were tied. Between that and the fact Aeden was simply smarter, faster, stronger, and more experienced than them, it didn't look like it was going to be a tough fight. Then he noticed the status of his still half gone shield.

" _Juno?"_

" _Yeah I'm working on it!"_ She almost shouted at him. " _For some reason the suits only generating about a tenth of the power it normally does and only about 2% of that is available for recharging your shields. You good without for a while?"_

" _Yeah they're basic greenhorns. Skilled in their own way but inexperienced. They clearly weren't expecting a real threat when they picked this fight."_

The fight devolved into a drawn-out repetition of Aeden keeping his guard up and using the reach advantage of his weapon to punish them safely. Creating mini one v ones by lining them up with good footwork; using his superior speed to get a quick shot in and dodge their partner's retaliation, and several other tricks were used in between periods of deft evasion. He had enough speed to do this and much more. placing them both in what equated to a stun lock combo would've been child's play. But unlike most people in Remnant, he grew up fighting in battles where one blow is fatal and deflecting bullets was inconceivable. An environment which breeds more cautious warriors than what is common in Remnant.

Other than the peculier weapons and the fact that they weren't dead yet, it looked to be a fairly uninteresting fight for the swordsman. Then all of a sudden, the last thing he expected happened. His opponents were blown off their feet by bolts of lightning. Baffled, He looked over to Amber who was now levitating several stories above the ground with literal fire in, or rather around her eyes. This only lasted for second or so before the other woman, using what he could only assume was magic or telekinesis, sent dozens of glass spikes flying up towards her. Whatever was acting as her personal shield stopped them from killing her, but the force still knocked her out of the sky.

" _I knew it,_ " Aeden left an active frag grenade behind before running full speed towards the new threat. " _Somehow I always end up babysitting."_

He quickly closed the distance. But before he did. They fired one more burst of bullets at his back, only stopping after the grenade went off. The was all it took to finish taking his shield down.

" _Damn it,_ " he thought to himself as he used the crossguard of his sword to deliver a running punch to the face of the woman attacking Amber. The woman recoiled a bit. She was then knocked clean off her feet when Amber somehow blasted her with a gust of high-speed wind.

"GET BACK!" She shouted as she turned and sent a stream of fire from the red crystal on her staff towards the two Aeden assumed were dead. Despite her show of power, Aeden's motion tracker showed a single red dot racing through the fire towards Amber.

"GET DOWN!" He shouted as he tackled her just in time to avoid the surprise attack. Though she avoided the attack, Aeden was not so lucky. The attack landed on his side just below the suit's breastplate. The kick sent him flying off leaving a trail of blood behind. He landed on his stomach in a motionless state of agony.

" _Juno."_ He gasped before taking a moment to collect his thoughts. " _Flesh wound?"_

" _Flesh wound,"_ she confirmed. " _But it's a pretty deep one. You may not have any damaged organs but you can certainly bleed to death."_

" _Do I still have bio-foam?"_

" _Yeah it's still clinging to you somehow."_ She answered. Her partner reached for the biofoam container that he stored next to his grenades.

" _Well It's about damn time I got some decent —_ FUCK!" He shouted as another one of Amber's gust of wind swept him up and threw him back another five meters and the bio-foam flew to God knows where.

"SORRY," Amber quickly yelled from a distance.

He squirmed into a position that allowed him to see what was going on. " _You know, just once today I'd like to not be sucker punched by lady luck."_

" _Think of it this way, at least she's not holding back,"_ Juno chuckled.

" _Yeah, so that exhausted limp probably isn't fake."_ He said looking at Amber, who was now struggling to move towards the blurred image of one of their attackers.

" _She looks pissed,"_ Juno added, knowing I couldn't make out to many details.

" _I swear to God, if that gets me killed. Her ass is haunted,"_ He said getting increasingly annoyed with her brashness in combat. He watched her as she limped her way to her target using her staff as a crutch. When she made it to the boy lying on the ground paralyzed with fear, she stood there for a second. Aeden's couldn't begin to guess what she thinking but she clearly wasn't finishing the job. Then oddly enough, she turned toward Aeden, and she began limping towards him.

"No you dumbass, finish the fight _,"_ he said as loudly as he could, knowing that she did nothing to make sure she wasn't going to be attacked again. Not even a precautionary glance to make sure the assailants were immobilized as well.

His point was proven correct by the sharp, painful gasp he heard as his ally fell face forward on the ground. A glass arrow was protruding from her back while the archer held the pose from its release. She laid her bow on the ground and signaled her cronies who promptly struggled to their feet and took hold of Amber's arms.

" _Of course."_

" _Are you going to just — Okay you're helping."_ Juno said as Aeden began to struggle to his feet.

Juno's words were ignored. Aeden was trying his best to focus his mind and dull the pain. Using his left hand he reached for his remaining flashbang. Aeden knew his target. Just above Amber's barely visible head, where his ally's eyes would be the only ones that were partially covered.

" _God I hate amateurs,_ " he thought to himself while the grenade left his hand.

"Please. Don't," He heard Amber plead to her attackers with dread in her voice. Whatever they were doing, he could not see because he had accidentally flashed himself enough times to know it's a better idea to look directly at an eclipse than a flashbang.

When it finally detonated, all three of the attackers were left covering their eyes and ears. while Amber grabbed her staff and attempted to get back on her feet. Meanwhile, Amber fell flat on her face again when she lost the support of the children holding her upright. While she was down he threw his knife at the emerald haired girl.

"AHHH!" He heard from a distance.

" _I take it I got him,"_ He took his pistol from its holster and emptied the clip on the fleeing lackies to ensure they either died or kept retreating. At this point he really didn't care which. After reloading with the half empty clip he used on spark, he started moving to defend Amber. Fighting the urge to clutch at his wound the entire way.

They weren't the only ones in bad shape. Since the grey boy with the robotic legs had started to carry his wounded team-mate away which only left the leader of the group to complete the mission. Aeden had only just gotten to Amber when the last remaining attacker had retrieved the weapons she had previously discarded.

"Impressive," She spoke in a confident voice, holding an arrow to the undrawn bowstring. "Even wounded and defeated, you fight to protect the stranger."

"What can I say," Aeden responded while putting great effort into using humor to mask the pain in his voice. "it's what I was bred for."

"Curious choice of words," the woman continued. "You're not my target, and even in your current state, I've no desire to fight you. If you walk away now, I'll tell my associates to leave you be."

"Like hell,"Aeden responded impatiently, still hiding the pain from his voice.

"Why not? You have no obligation to defend her. If you did we would know. Why die for someone when you have no reason, no chance of survival. Why take a risk for no rewards. All for someone who put you in this place to begin —"

She was interrupted by a bullet to her still shielded heart.

"Because if I turned around now, you'd just shoot me in the back. Besides, of all the injuries I've had to fight through this doesn't even place in the top five."

Her eyes narrowed. There was sincere contempt in her gaze. Contempt so strong that Aeden failed to recall a time when anyone he had pissed off had a look that screamed 'I want him dead' quite like this. Far more unsettling though was the reddish orange color that intensified the spiteful gaze with the feeling of fiery rage.

"Let's change that," she responded coldly, drawing her bowstring back in the process. Before she released the arrow, something caught her eye. A man with an impractically large sword emerged from the woods and was making his way towards the battle. Her reaction told Aeden the new combatant was on his side.

"You were saying?" he retorted.

She didn't take kindly to that. She shot near his feet. A sinister red circle then appeared on the ground around it. Aeden instinctively leaped back and shielded his face and body with his arms. Juno also knew to protect him by placing his armor in armor lock mode. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the circle erupting in a pillar of flame that seared his wound through the hole in his armor.

* * *

Well there's the first chapter of the rewrite. For those unfortunate enough to have read the original, what do you think? Better? Worse? Let me know. I'm going to go back to doing my monthly release if at all possible but life might decide otherwise. Until then comment, follow, dispense salt and hate,do what you will and I'll keep an eye out.


	3. update

Let me preface this with I'm sorry.

I'm keenly aware of how the monthly new chapter did not happen and probably wont be for a while for a couple of reasons.

1\. the first chapters were me testing the waters and getting feed back because I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out so I wanted some feedback. as a result of that I posted it without the immediate follow up planned out. though most of the later chapters I do have thought out so that should stop being a problem.

2\. I had to put in 55 hours a week at work over the summer to pay for my first year of college debt free so yeah, I wasn't doing much writing then.

All that being said, I am almost done with chapter 2. Probably this weekend if not the next one. But there is one thing one thing I got from my feedback I wanted to address here. I got a lot of comments asking about the background of Aeden and I'm playing around with a few ideas. one is posting a new story detailing his life in the halo universe and updating that alongside this one. the other is posting those chapters within this story as certain events become relevant. there is also the option of having brief but lightly detailed flashbacks that answer common questions within this stories existing chapters. let me know what you guys think.

I've posted a poll but if you have another Idea feel free to message me.


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